Archive for the ‘Museum Facts’ Category

The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow is housed in a neo-classical building in Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow. It was built in 1778 as the town house of William Cunninghame, a wealthy Glasgow tobacco baron, and went on to be used as a bank, a business exchange, a telephone exchange and a library before being transformed in 1996 into a gallery housing the City’s contemporary art collection.

Many famous people signed the visitors’ book in this building including

Robert Peel – who gave his famous address in a marquee outside the building, built to house a dinner to honour him after he was installed as Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1837.

Napoleon III of France – who visited the City in 1839 for the Eglinton tournament. This was a re-enactment of a medieval joust held in Kilwinning in Ayrshire.

Josiah Henson – an author, abolitionist and Methodist minister. He was born into slavery in America but escaped and founded a settlement for fugitive slaves in Canada. He inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. He spoke at the City Halls and Kibble Palace in Glasgow to huge crowds.

If anyone knows of other famous visitors to this magnificent building please let us know.

Intermezzo provide guided tours and private viewings of Glasgow Museums and work with Museums, Galleries and Heritage Properties to increase revenue streams. For more information contact us on 0141 636 6929 or email us at info@intermezzo-arts.co.uk

Pabasa was the most powerful male official of his day in Upper Egypt. Pharoah Psamtek I appointed him as Great Steward to his virgin daughter Nitocris who ruled Upper Egypt on the pharaoh’s behalf. The shape is that of the mummified Osiris, god of the dead, with whom Pabasa wishes to be identified. Figures of the sisters of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys and the goddesses Neith and Serket are shown at the foot and head of the trough. On the side of the trough are Thoth (the ibis-headed man who records the judgement of the heart), Imsety (the human headed son of Horus who protects the liver), Anubis (the jackal-headed man who is god of embalming, and Duamutef (the jackal-headed son of Horus who protects the stomach).

This sarcophagus was acquired by Alexander, the 10th Duke of Hamilton, who was an early Victorian collector and eccentric, and he placed it in the Egyptian Hall of Hamilton Palace. His wish was to be mummified on his death and to this end he acquired another sarcophagus for himself which was to be placed in the family mausoleum. Unfortunately he purchased a female sarcophagus which was not big enough for him and after his death his feet had to be broken so that he would fit inside.

You can view this sarcophagus in the Egyptian Room on the ground floor of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum in Glasgow.

Intermezzo organise private viewings of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum and offer assistance with income generation and sponsorship to Museums, Art Galleries and Heritage Properties. For more information contact us at info@intermezzo-arts.co.uk or on 0141 636 6929